Burkina Faso Indigenous Innovation in Farmer-to-Farmer Extension I from the livestock that traditionally ncreasing attention is being given to in- graze the harvested fields. Thus, the digenous innovation in agriculture ­ the NotesKI zaï are being used to establish or re- process by which farmers develop new establish woodland, with a view to sell- and better ways of doing things, primarily ing timber and other products. using local resources and on their own ini- Some of the farmers whose cre- tiative, without pressure or direct support ativity and drive contributed to these from formal research or development improvements on the indigenous zaï agents. In this process, farmers have de- technology initiated activities to pro- veloped not only better farming techniques mote the spread and further improve- but also better ways of organising them- ment of this technology. The three selves. In the Yatenga Region of Burkina farmer-to-farmer extension ap- Faso, local improvements on a traditional proaches developed by farmer innova- farming technique have become very tors in Burkina Faso that are described widespread, largely on account of the here ­ the "Market Day", the innovativeness of farmers in developing "Teacher-Student" approach and the their own forms of farmer-to-farmer ex- "Zaï Field School" ­ are, in them- tension. They have found highly effective http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/default.htm selves, local innovations. ways of spreading their ideas and encour- aging other farmers to try them out. In the early 1980s, farmers in the The "Market Day" approach Yatenga Region of the densely populated Around 1980, in the village of Gourga, Central Plateau in Burkina Faso developed four kilometres west of Ouahigouya, ­ on their own initiative ­ methods of reha- the capital of Yatenga Region,Yacouba bilitating degraded land by improving the Sawadogo started improving the tradi- traditional planting pits known as zaï. Into tional planting pits by experimenting the small pits hacked into rock-hard barren with a range of variations. Since 1984, land, the farmers put organic matter that No. 77 Yacouba Sawadogo has been using a attracts termites. These dig channels and February 2005 improve the soil structure, so that water can infiltrate and be held in the soil. By di- IK Notes reports periodically on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives gesting the organic matter, the termites in Sub-Saharan Africa and occasionally make nutrients more easily available to the on such initiatives outside the Region. plant roots. Most farmers grow millet or It is published by the Africa Region's sorghum or both these cereal crops in the Knowledge and Learning Center as zaï. Sometimes they sow seeds of trees part of an evolving IK partnership between the World Bank, communi- directly together with the cereals in the ties, NGOs, development institutions same pits. In this way, the young trees also and multilateral organizations. The benefit from the concentration of manure views expressed in this article are those of the authors and should not be World Bank and water in the pits, intended primarily for attributed to the World Bank Group the cereals. When harvesting the grain, or its partners in this initiative. A the farmers cut the stalks at a height of webpage on IK is available at // 50­75 cm. The parts of the stalks that re- www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/ main standing protect the tree seedlings default.htm 2 "Market Day" approach to give farmers an opportunity to kind of on-the-job training. share their adaptations and improvements on the traditional What motivates Yacouba Sawadogo to spread his and zaï.and to promote its spread. Not only he but also other other farmers' innovations so actively? He says that he farmers have been carrying out informal experiments, for wants to prove that environmental degradation is not irre- example, finding the most effective ways to grow tree seed- versible and that it is possible to make a living from farming lings in the zaï, testing the residual effects of compost on in Yatenga. At the same time, he wants to be recognised as cereals grown in a second season, testing combinations of an innovator and this public recognition is a major incentive organic and inorganic fertiliser in the zaï, and trying to grow for him. different crop varieties in the zaï. At first, these events were small, but now each market day involves people from over 100 villages. The events are The "Teacher-Student" approach held twice a year. The first market day is shortly after the In the village of Gourcy, Ali Ouédraogo, a very experienced harvest, and farmers bring a sample of the crop varieties farmer innovator, has invested heavily in improved zaï in (millet, sorghum, maize, cowpea) they have cultivated in combination with applying compost, planting trees and pro- their zaï. Yacouba Sawadogo stores these seeds on his farm. tecting the naturally regenerating trees and shrubs. He has The second market day is held just before the wet season. trained individual farmers in five villages close to Gourcy and From the stored seed, farmers can select the species and visits them regularly to work with them directly in their fields. varieties they would like to plant in their zaï, taking into ac- He does this to show how he manages zaï, to give the farm- count the improvements in growing conditions resulting from ers advice and to exchange ideas with them. their efforts. Some of the students do not simply adopt what he sug- Each market day has a specific theme. For instance, gests. They carry out their own experiments based on his during one market day, the focus was on growing sesame. original idea and develop adaptations of it. For example, one Another theme was the use of zaï for growing trees directly farmer, Hamadé Bissiri, felt that the zaï made by Ali are ex- from seed. At each market day, there is also a display of the cessively large and require a great deal of time and physical local tools used to dig the zaï. This allows farmers from other strength to dig. Not everyone can do this. Hamadé Bissiri areas to see for themselves which tools can be used and to therefore modified the layout and dimensions of the zaï to find out where they can buy them. suit his capacity. Other farmers have experimented with ap- The farmers involved in the zaï markets have created an plying different amounts of organic materials at the time of "Association of Zaï Groups for the Development of the sowing or planting in the pits. Sahel", primarily in order to mobilise external financial or Since 1993, Ali has trained twelve farmers. His "stu- material support for spreading the zaï technology. The Gen- dents" in turn, train other farmers in improved zaï tech- eralAssembly of this association takes place during the mar- niques, at their request. These farmer-trainers are not paid ket days. The external support has thus far been modest. In for their services. Their major reward is social esteem, but 1997 the Association received three motorcycles, fuel and this is sometimes sweetened by gifts of appreciation (chick- some cement from a non-governmental organisation. Before ens, kola nuts or a meal). 1997, Yacouba Sawadogo used his own motorcycle and paid for his own fuel to visit villages to spread his message and encourage people to share and learn at the market days. The "Zaï Field School" approach However, the national television of Burkina Faso made a programme about the market day, and the radio made two In the village of Somyanga in Yatenga Region, Ousséni broadcasts about Yacouba Sawadogo's achievements in Zoromé initiated the "Zaï Field School" approach. In 1992, managing natural resources. he started training some local farmers how to make good Many visitors come to his farm, and receiving them is zaï. He chose the poorest possible site, immediately next to time-consuming. The solution he has found is to request an the tarmac road linking Ouahigouya and Ouagadougou, the "input" from each visitor. Those who come from abroad are capital city of Burkina Faso. The soils on the site had been asked to plant a tree seedling, which Yacouba Sawadogo completely destroyed by bulldozers constructing the road. raised in his own small nursery, and groups of farmers visit- The farmers practised the different improvements on the zaï ing from elsewhere in Burkina Faso or West Africa are technique, such as applying organic matter (compost or ma- asked to dig some zaï on his land. This also functions as a nure) and using adapted cereal varieties, and assessed the 3 results together. They managed to achieve a millet harvest of puts the farmers at the centre of a self-directed process of 400 kg per hectare on this very poor land. All people travel- learning and sharing. This became very obvious during the ling along the main road saw this immediately, because it was "workshop fair" on farmer innovation, held in March 2004 in a year of extreme drought and many crops had failed. Also, Segou, Mali, where Ousséni Zoromé presented the experi- the Minister of Agriculture saw the plot and called in a team ences of the Zaï Field Schools. from national television to film it. Ousséni Zoromé then started to organise more groups of farmers, which he calls "Zaï Field Schools". Each group is Towards food security and wealth expected to rehabilitate collectively a piece of degraded These three approaches to farmer-to-farmer extension were land. In this way, all participants are trained on-the-job. The all developed on the initiative of farmers who have, in fact, yields obtained on the rehabilitated land are partly shared become public-service providers who receive no remunera- between the members of the Zaï Field School and partly tion for their time. At most, they receive some limited exter- used to buy the agricultural inputs and tools needed to experi- nal support for travel from local NGOs or individuals. Ini- ment with zaï. The experiments conceived by the farmers tially, these farmers had few links with the government ex- include comparing the impact of compost and non-decom- tension services but, as they began to organise themselves posed manure and testing an early-maturing variety of millet into larger unions, such as the association of Zaï Field that is rare in Yatenga Region. Schools, they began to receive some support in developing Ousséni Zoromé and the farmer groups that formed the proposals to acquire tools, and they have received informa- initial Zaï Field Schools have widely promoted both the im- tion about relevant regional or national meetings. The Re- proved technology and their new extension approach. They gional Department of Agriculture provides travel and a sub- have now formed a regional union ­ the "Association for the sistence allowance to the farmers who attend these meet- Conservation of Water and Soil inYatenga" ­ which involves ings. about 50 farmer groups in five divisions (Départements) of the region. This Association has set up a site for practical Largely as a result of the efforts of people like Yacouba learning about zaï in each Département. Each farmer group Sawadogo, Ali Ouédraogo and Ousséni Zoromé, farmers in pays a contribution of 5000 CFA(US$ 8) to become a mem- Yatenga Region and in other parts of the densely populated ber of a regional union. Ousséni Zoromé has personally re- Central Plateau of Burkina Faso are becoming increasingly ceived no material support for his voluntary extension work interested in zaï. Under such dry conditions as prevail on the except occasionally some fuel for his motorcycle from the Plateau, this is not surprising. The pits collect and concen- Regional Department of Agriculture. Usually, however, he trate runoff water, allowing farmers to make very efficient pays for his own fuel. use of small quantities of manure or compost or ­ if available The success of the Zaï Field Schools have extended be- ­ chemical fertiliser. The use of zaï allows farmers to make yond the borders of Yatenga Region. Members of the Asso- larger areas of land suitable for growing crops and trees, to ciation have been visited by development workers from increase production, to reduce production risks and to im- other parts of Burkina Faso who were interested in finding prove household food security. These innovative farmers do out more about the Field Schools, and members of theAsso- not want to monopolise their knowledge. They are generous ciation have hosted farmer groups that have come to learn in sharing their discoveries and experiences with others. from them. The trainees return home not only with new Their benefits are primarily, as mentioned earlier, in the form knowledge but usually also with some seed and/or tools to of personal satisfaction and greater social recognition. These use in their own experiments with zaï. appear to have been their main motivations to develop their Formal researchers and extensionists who have wit- own extension models for giving practical training and advice nessed the success of this initiative recognise that it is a to other farmers, who ­ in turn ­ are keen to learn from them practical model for participatory innovation development that and are teaching still more farmers. This article was written by Aly Ouedraogo from Réseau MARP in Ouagadougou, and Hamado Sawadogo from the National Agricultural Research Centre (INERA) in Tougan, Burkina Faso, with editorial assistance from Chris Reij (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Ann Waters-Bayer (ETC Ecoculture). Documentation of these extension approaches devel- oped by farmers to promote indigenous technologies and innovations was carried out as part of the Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation (ISWC) programme financed by the Netherlands Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS).